by Bevan Greer
“Perhaps Myla can explain it best.” Zebram nodded at Myla.
Ren tensed and narrowed his gaze on her. Interesting.
“Yes, I can in fact.” Myla’s eyes shone with a hidden wealth of feeling. The old woman seemed inordinately pleased to see her, and Dare had the feeling she should know why. Something about Myla was vaguely familiar, but when Dare searched inward for the memory her head began to pound.
“Easy, young one,” Myla said in a foreign tongue.
How Dare could understood the words and command behind them, she didn’t know, but her head stopped hurting. Then Myla reverted to common tongue.
“A millennia ago, the System fought the Ragil Horde and won. Using the Thrax, a weapon created by the Nexians and Ocaians, the Mari destroyed the Horde’s superior fleet. In the time since, thoughts that the Horde was destroyed prevailed.
“But the Horde did not vanish, instead using the time to rebuild and grow. In the years since, the Thrax was put aside and all but forgotten, save for those of us who were there.”
At her words, even Zebram looked astonished. “You never did say how old you were.”
“No, I didn’t, did I?” Myla gave a sly smile. “The point is, the Thrax sits now in Ocaia, the exact location known only to Aranthe. He will not submit it for study to the Nexians, convinced that only a Mari can power it.”
“But what is all this ‘Mari’ talk?” Dare asked with frustration. “I’m Fenturi, yes. But so are you, and so is she.” Dare asked Thela, “Why don’t you make it work?”
Myla shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way. Once a generation, a Fenturi is born under the Mari moon. The sun shines off the moon like magic, and that light settles on the chosen child. You, Darel N’Alen, were chosen long before you were born. Shalyl and Radilen knew it.”
Dare stared at the woman in shock. “How do you know my parents?” Once again, panic unfolded as the past intruded upon the present.
Ren put a calming hand on her shoulder, and when she tried to shrug him off, he pressed firmly. “Calm yourself. Nothing will hurt you here.”
Dare did her best to regain her sense of balance, though she studied Myla, wondering what secrets she hid and why. Dare didn’t like talking about the past. She desperately wanted to know more about her parents, but the part of her that had helped her survive an early trauma warned against it. The past was dead, and those connected to it could only bring more harm. Or so she’d always thought.
“Get on with it, witch-woman,” Ren said coldly.
“I mean no harm,” Myla apologized. “But you must know I speak the truth. We’ll talk of it when you’re ready, Dare. Not now. But to answer your question, you were born under the Mari moon, and only you can power the Thrax.”
Thela spoke up. “Shouldn’t we be more concerned just now to find the weapon? Where is Aranthe? Who is Aranthe?”
“Yes, Myla. How will we find this man? With the Horde so close, so threatening, how can we afford to wait at all?” Zebram asked. “Why did we not send Garen and Dare straight away to Ocaia?”
Apparently he listened to more than Cyka. Dare again took the young king’s measure, curious that he’d take the word of a Fenturi woman and that he seemed to trust her.
“I know fear invades us as deeply as the Horde once did. But the cycle must repeat itself.” Myla sounded…off. She turned to Ren, her gaze flittering between him and Dare. “You will find Aranthe, an Ocaian ocean dweller, in the heart of Isus.”
Dare needed a little more. “Isus is the biggest storm in Ocaia. How do we get through that considering none of us can breathe underwater? And I don’t swim,” she said firmly.
Ren glanced at her in surprise but said nothing.
“The Eyshan6 is equipped to handle such an environment,” Castor said, almost apologetically. “We had the modifications done last year.”
“We did?” Ren asked.
“Yes,” the twins said as one.
“Oh, right.” Castor shrugged. “You were taking care of that thing on Meklen with B Squad. It, um, well, it was per King Zebram’s insistence.”
“And you never felt the need to tell me about my own ship?” Ren then turned to his brother, and Dare had the feeling things were about to get ugly.
“Okay, so the Eyshan6 can get us into Isus, only the biggest water storm on the planet,” she said quickly. “Even if we find it, I still don’t know how to power the thing. By the Dark World, I don’t even know what it looks like.”
“Yes, you do.” Myla nodded, her words kind. “But you’re not ready yet. I suggest, King Zebram, that I speak with Dare alone. Your brother’s crew is tired, and there are things she and I must discuss.” She ignored Ren’s firm “No” and continued. “You have other matters more pressing right now than you know. With Thela and Castor’s help, I believe you will have audience with the man you seek.”
Dare saw Zebram perk up.
“Truly?”
“Yes, Zebram.” Myla rolled her eyes. “I do not think your brother is a good influence on you. Before you always trusted me.”
“It’s not that, Myla, it’s just—”
“It’s of no matter.” She cocked her head, as if hearing something none of the others could. “We have no time. Apparently Dare and I can wait. Castor, Thela, my king, please come with me. I think Garen can care for Darel in our absence. I’ll find you later, dear,” she said to Dare.
Zebram gave Ren an odd look, and she saw the affection brighten his face before Ren’s glare dimmed the joy. “Yes. Make it so. Unless my brother has any objections?”
“None.” Ren moved closer to Dare, but as the others left, he shouted after them, “Have a care with my Second. He’s got memory issues.”
Castor responded with something profane.
Ren looked down at Dare with a smile on his face. Then he sobered and said, “Come, let’s leave this place. I know where we can rest and not be seen.” He left instructions with the twins to rejoin him in a few hours, then took Dare by the hand and departed the stone room.
Dare felt his need to be free from the palace and went with him without question. Instead of returning to the shuttle, they walked away from the royal houses and into the village. They moved past curious eyes and respectful if fearful nods toward Ren, into the woods bordering the Vinopol kingdom.
Dare followed on sure feet as Ren took her deeper into the forest, through twists and turns until they ended at a wall of rock.
Ren moved a swath of vines aside to reveal the entrance to a small cave. “The grotto used to seem much larger,” he murmured. “Come.” He motioned for her to follow him. They walked through the darkness with ease before the light found them again.
Ren waited until Dare caught up to him. She gasped when she looked around her. Three holes in the ceiling of the cave allowed light to stream through the mid-sized area like magical fingers of radiance.
Around them on the walls of rock, lush vegetation grew like fancy wall-covering, softening and warming the space. The ground was part sand near the large pool of water in the corner, and part grass away from the pool.
A stream of sunlight illuminated the green pool in the corner into an incandescent, almost fantastic spot. Like bathing in a dream world.
“What is this?”
“My secret place.” Ren smiled before his face was leeched of joy. “When I was younger, I felt almost suffocated by the harsh reality of the palace. I spent much of my time looking for an escape. Somehow I found this place, almost as if I was drawn to it.” He ran a hand over an abundant vine lacing the stone wall. “I’m not a fan of the water, I’ll admit. But it’s so calm here, and the sound of the water lapping against the rock around it is soothing.”
She could feel the draw of the place, calling to the wildness inside her. “It’s beautiful.” She read what remained unsaid. An outcast in his home, not loved or wanted by the butcher king, Ren had needed—if not to be with the Fenturi—to be around nature, salving that inherent desire to heed the
call of the wild.
“It reminds me of Kre, where I grew up.” She fondly remembered the jungles from her youth.
Ren drew closer to her, his attention now firmly on her. “It is beautiful. It reminds me of you.” Then he bent his head and kissed her.
Just like the night before, feeling swelled and burst over them in a heartbeat. And Dare knew she’d finally come home.
Like a starving man, Ren tugged at her clothing even as he resented the need for distance between them. He pressed against her, marveling at the differences in their bodies, which when put together, fit perfectly.
He didn’t want to talk about his past, could barely remember it as he stared into Dare’s blue eyes.
Then her eyes closed as she succumbed to the building passion between them. Ren sighed when she kneaded his back, moving underneath his shirt to touch his bare skin.
Earlier in the shuttle, he’d sensed her need as she stared out the portal, her face reflected in the glass. He knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her, and that had only fueled his desire while he’d waited through their meeting with Zebram.
Knowing the dangers they faced as well as their press for time, Ren knew they wouldn’t have such an opportunity soon again. If anything, his desire for her grew the more he tried to ignore it. But it went beyond anything physical. When he’d seen her pain at Myla’s words, he’d wanted to shelter her and punish the one causing such harm. Her fear ate at him as if it were his own.
He deepened the kiss, drawing her breath into his lungs as he gave her his own. Then he pulled back to divest her of her blouse and undershirt, so he could fill his hands with her naked breasts.
“Ren.” She sucked his lower lip between her teeth and rubbed against him.
He shuddered, determined to make this last, though she was hammering at his self-control with every breath. He was hard and aching to have her. The time had come.
He removed the rest of her clothing before he dealt with his own.
“No, let me.” Dare removed his shirt, her lips trailing after her fingers. Seeing her naked and moving to her knees before him, Ren couldn’t help recalling his many fantasies and hurriedly dragged her to her feet.
“No, Dare. Let me take the lead.” He stifled her protest with another kiss. “I have to slow it down before I forget myself. You have me so ready, so hungry.” He groaned when she caressed him and slid her hands to his lower back, tugging him closer.
He laid her down on the soft grass before stripping out of the rest of his clothing. Her gaze ran over him with sheer pleasure, and she licked her lips when she found his pulsing erection.
“You’re so big. I don’t know if we’ll fit,” she said, expressing the first hint of uncertainty.
“Oh, we’ll fit.” He chuckled and lowered himself to cover her body. “And you’ll beg me for all of it.” At the warmth that filled them when they connected, body to body, he felt an almost religious experience. This. This was what he’d been waiting a lifetime to experience.
He teased her mouth, his tongue invading and probing, ferreting her most erogenous areas. While he trailed kisses down her neck, he pressed himself between her legs, feeling the moisture of her heat surrounding his thick shaft.
He gritted his teeth at the tortuous pleasure and positioned himself to slide between the soft folds of her woman’s flesh, not penetrating but still feeling the heat of her around him. Such bliss between her strong thighs. Dear Gods and Goddesses, he’d never heard anything so beautiful as the cries of need coming from Dare’s ripe mouth.
He kissed her neck then whispered hot words of passion and sex, driving them both to the brink as he continued to pump between her legs, but not inside her. Not yet.
“Ren, please,” she begged and kissed him with desperate passion.
He lowered to kiss her breasts, still not ready to take her until she was beyond thought. He suckled and caressed, tasting every delicate curve and valley of her breasts, firming her nipples into hard peaks. The more he tasted, the more she writhed under him, moving rhythmically against his erection, seeking ease.
He teethed her nipple and felt her hands slide over his ass, urging him up to join her.
Her pull was strong, and she widened her thighs, taking him almost inside her. When he hesitated again, she growled low, lost to everything but him. He could feel her, deep inside, in a way beyond the physical.
Ren could no longer avoid the truth—that they belonged together. In all ways.
He nudged her thighs wider. The light streaming through the cave bathed them in a golden glow. He leaned up from her to see her, amazed anew at her loveliness.
“You are wild. Fenturi. So very beautiful.” Something he’d never thought to say. Ever. But it was true. He traced her lips with his own, penetrating with his tongue and delivered a soul-shattering kiss. As he did, he positioned himself at her hot core and slowly entered her.
“Ah, Dare. You’re so hot, so wet.” He groaned and continued to push, the pressure building inside him as her tight sheath enveloped the whole of him, inch by inch.
“More,” she urged and twisted, her eyes a gleaming blue, her pupils long and thin.
Loathe to hurt her, Ren forced himself to go gently. But she wouldn’t let him. She bucked and drove him deep into her.
They both gasped, and Ren felt such ecstasy he could barely breathe.
He managed, “Are you okay?” without moving, keeping that final climax on hold until she could experience her own pleasure.
“Oh, yes.” She moaned and wriggled her hips. “I want you to—”
“Move, oh baby, yes.” He pulled back, only to thrust back inside, to the heart of her womb. In and out, he ground his hips into hers while they kissed, his tongue mimicking his actions.
The pressure to release grew until he could bear no more. Dare stiffened around him and cried out his name, tiny claws biting into his shoulders where she held on.
Feeling her pleasure catapulted him into his own release. With one final thrust Ren exploded into her, filling her with his seed. And once again a blue aura enveloped them, together, a perfect nimbus of pleasure and peace. Of unity.
Ren couldn’t stop himself from filling her. It felt as if his entire body had joined hers forever, his last drop of life pouring into her as she greedily absorbed him.
They lay entwined, spent and unable to move for a long while. Fearing he was too heavy, he motioned to shift off of her but stopped when she gripped his shoulder tight.
“Are you okay, sweet?”
“Don’t move,” she whispered. “You’re fine where you are.”
Ren bent his forehead to hers, his eyes closed, and sought her lips. “By the Goddess, I think you killed me.” Still joined, he couldn’t believe that he remained hard inside her when he’d just been spent of his desire.
He rested on his elbows and leaned up to studying her satisfied face, feeling something within him melt at the sight of her slumberous blue eyes and swollen red lips.
“I don’t know how you do it, but I can’t stop wanting you.” To prove it, moved in her again. “I’m not hurting you, am I?” He wanted to stop, to give her more time to adjust, but he couldn’t seem to halt himself.
Her eyes widened and she stared at him with astonishment. “You’re still hard in me.” After a moment, she ground up against him. “Again, Ren.”
He noted with satisfaction that she had to catch her breath. “I shouldn’t want you again so soon, but I do,” he whispered and increased the pace of his thrusts. “I have to have you.”
“Then have me. Again, and again. And again,” she said on a moan.
He received her acceptance in a kiss, and they stopped talking. For a good long while.
-13-
“You want me to do what?” Castor stared at Myla with incredulity.
Thela couldn’t say why, but she liked him. He was a Stalker, an elite and deadly Legionnaire. But something about the burly man made her want to trust him.
“J
ust leave your weapons here and accompany Thela and Zebram into the woods. Thela will show you where to go,” Myla explained.
“I’ll just bet she will,” Castor grumbled. “I’m sorry, but I’m not leaving my weapons behind, especially knowing I’m walking right into the Fenturi rebellion camp.”
Zebram pinched the bridge of his nose. “Please, Castor, just do it.” He sounded tired.
Thela watched the men, mentally comparing the two. Though brawnier and obviously physically stronger than the king, Castor lacked the sophisticated intelligence and self-possessed nature Zebram wore like a second skin.
Garen had that same intelligence, but not on Zebram’s scale. She stared at Zebram, dark circles under his eyes. He genuinely cared. A king who didn’t want war. He was so very different from his father.
She’d seen Zebram train with his men and knew he could hold his own in a sword fight, but she had been so much more impressed watching him verbally fence with the many planetary leaders over the past month.
At first she’d been surprised he’d allowed her to oversee his every move, especially considering her Fenturi background. But as she watched him, she gradually grew more aware of the tense battles he fought amidst the System, let alone the ones he fought on Bylar.
Having taken Cyka’s words into consideration, Thela admitted to herself that perhaps the counselor had the truth of it. Thela found herself unwillingly attracted to Zebram’s maturity, to the flashes of humor so often found in his young, handsome face.
She also knew she couldn’t bear it if something were to happen to him. She had to speak to her brother Mikhel, to get him to at least talk to Zebram and open his eyes to the greater threat looming over the System.
“Castor, do what your king commands,” she said with a firmness that surprised even herself.
Castor and Zebram eyed her with surprise, which irritated her even more. Thela had a backbone of steel—when she chose to show it. She was no weak creature and could hold her own with Bylar’s Legionnaires, as well as Bylar’s king. “I’m not planning on killing my future husband,” she snapped and stomped into the woods ahead of them.